Ugh. No new words tonight. Caught the cold Bug’s got, and although it’s not the worst in terms of fuzzy-brainedness, it’s brought with it a killer sore throat and that’s just making it hard to focus on anything besides NOT SWALLOWING.

But I’m going to commandeer Saturday night for a little extra work to catch up on word count, and hopefully that’ll get me on track if I’m behind. Also, I’ve got a Write Club set up for Friday, and that should be super helpful, too! So I’m optimistic that taking tonight to recuperate isn’t completely foolhardy. *dammit I said don’t swallow!*

Well, I can tell we’re officially on that final push to the climax and end. It’s teeth-grinding work, trying to just put one foot after another, knowing it’ll all likely have to be rewritten from near scratch, trying not to think about how it’ll need to be rewritten from scratch, all while trying to just GET PEOPLE WHERE THEY NEED TO BE and GET THINGS MOVING AS THEY NEED TO MOVE. But that often seems to be the way it is for me. A little extra distracted tonight because Bug has a cold and isn’t sleeping well, poor guy. :(

Making progress, and finally took a minute to sit down and fine-tune the outline for the last handful of scenes so that they actually work together and don’t just make magical fanciful hops from one event to another without any logic between them. Still plenty of work to do, but I’m feeling pretty confident that I can get to the climax by the end of this week, and spend next week in the wrap-up to The End. It’ll be a bit tight, but I’ll put in whatever extra time I need to get it done. I’m so, so, SO ready for this draft to be done. Can’t even think about edits it’s going to need yet, because WHOOO BOY. So. Much. Editing. But I’m not there yet! So I’m not thinking about it.

Let me tell you: I really, really didn’t want to write tonight. And I even had a good reason. See, there was this dinner thing for the hubby’s work, and we took the kiddo, and it was good but exhausting, and we got home around nine, and the kiddo was way past bedtime, and I was like, you know what? I don’t need to write tonight. I forgot this thing was happening, and really, I can make up the word count later next week. It’ll be fine.

And then, I sat my butt down and wrote anyway. In the back of my mind, I thought: I don’t have to write tonight, but if I do anyway, then I’m really, honestly, without question doing the work. Writers write. And writing tonight, when I very reasonably could skip out on it, proves that I’m committed.

So I did. And I am. This thing is getting done by the end of the month.

Charging right along, though every scene is getting tougher and tougher to write. I find myself overeager to jump over things that should probably not be skipped completely (though certainly not dwelled upon), rather like I’m making up for my overly detailed work in the beginning. I will probably need to flesh this out and develop it more, but for now, I’m just glad the progress continues steadily.

And we’re well on our way to the climax, though it’s a bit turbulent and will undoubtedly need some serious scrutiny later, but NO MATTER! A rough start is better than no start at all. Words were tough to start tonight, but once I found the right entry point, it picked up a bit (though at no point was there the rush of words). Still, making progress, and we’re gearing up to enter the skeleton track of the last triumphant clash of hero v. foe!

I can tell I’m rushing, at this point, but I’ve gotten to the end of Chapter 19, which means the finale can begin in full, now. And thank goodness, it’s cooling down. The street racers are out tonight. You can hear the buzzing duets of their engines in the distance as they zip over bike lanes and yellow lines, jockeying for bragging rights. Me? I’m just happy the writing for tonight is done (it was ok, but definitely not the smoothest or easiest segment yet), and that the temperature is now 79 degrees and falling. Should be a much more pleasant night.